I would like to propose a new housing development for women over fifty.
It’s called MenoPodz.
For years, I’ve joked that somebody should build a tiny wilderness community specifically for middle-aged women who are tired of noise, traffic, and sometimes, other humans. 😆
And we’re extra tired of being expected to participate in things.
The older I get, the more serious I become about this idea. In fact, I was so serious about it that a few months ago, I asked ChatGPT if it would be possible to approach a billionaire investor to build it with the idea that the right women will come.
The response wasn’t a total NO but it was a lot more complicated on paper than it was in my air-fairy brain.
The inspiration for MenoPodz came from a solo trip I took to a very isolated spot in the mountains for my 50th birthday a few years ago.
While many people celebrate milestone birthdays surrounded by friends and family, posing for the perfect social media post, I disappeared into the woods with my dog, a trunk full of premade food, and absolutely no intention of speaking to another human being.
It was glorious.
I spent four days in a tiny cabin community at Baker Creek. There was no cell service, no internet, and no TV. The temperatures hovered somewhere between “WTF” and “Why do humans come here?” for the duration of my stay.
My dog Dezi loved every second of it.
Each morning I’d open the cabin door and watch her launch herself into snowbanks like she was born for this moment. Then I’d settle in with a cup of coffee and stare out at a frozen landscape that somehow made me feel more alive than my regular life had in a long time.
During our daily walks around the property, I found myself peeking into the other cabins. Some had lofts. Some were tiny bachelor-style spaces. Others had little log staircases and wood-burning fireplaces.
And I kept thinking the same thing…I could totally live here forever.
I have to move into a new home sometime this year, and I won’t lie, I’ve been looking at 55+ condo communities. Mostly because a condo is all I can afford, and at least in an adult building, there would be no children running around.
However, what I really want is a small, standalone home outside the city where I can enjoy peace, quiet, and the occasional conversation when I actually feel like having one.
Picture a collection of modest two-bedroom cabins scattered through the forest. Even better, one bedroom with a writing loft up in the A-frame. Nothing fancy or oversized. Just enough space for a woman, her dog, a home office, and a bathtub large enough to support all the poor life decisions of our past 😆
Every resident would have her own place, sans roommates or shared walls. No one dropping by unexpectedly because they “were just in the neighbourhood,” because let’s face it….who’s coming to this bitchy community besides the occasional moose?
The women of MenoPodz would all contribute to the community in their own way. Some would garden. Some would bake. Some would preserve food for winter. Somebody with a large truck would perform the sacred weekly Costco pilgrimage for supplies on behalf of the village.
I would personally volunteer for firewood duty. I have never chopped wood professionally, but I feel like I could learn. Surely the fiery hell of menopause has prepared me for wielding an axe. 🪓🔥
Most of us would run little remote businesses from our cabins. Writers, artists, consultants, designers, photographers, crafters, and whatever other careers people invent after deciding they no longer wish to attend meetings.
The village dogs would have an excellent quality of life because they could spend their days racing through the woods, supervising wildlife, and forming complicated social alliances that we’d never fully understand.
The best part is that nobody would be required to socialize.
You could spend three days straight reading books, writing Substack newsletters about homesteading or staring into space, and nobody would think it was strange. In fact, it would probably be considered healthier than anything we do in a city.
Green flag: Happy to chat.
Yellow flag: Approach with coffee and snacks.
Red flag: Absolutely not. Just…NO.
One feature of MenoPodz would be non-negotiable - every cabin gets ‘the bathtub.’
Not just any bathtub….but THE bathtub.
Years ago, during my birthday retreat, I booked this cabin specifically because the photos on the booking site showed an absurdly beautiful tub. The thing was practically a recreational watercraft. I filled it with enough scented Lush bubbles to fumigate a small village and spent hours soaking while snow piled up outside the window.
It remains one of my favourite road trip memories of all time, and every woman in MenoPodz deserves this experience.
Picture a winter evening after a day spent gardening, writing, hiking, chopping wood, or doing absolutely nothing productive whatsoever. Your dog is asleep nearby. The fire is crackling. The stars are coming out. You sink into a mountain of bubbles and remember that nobody needs anything from you.
That right there is what I call living the dream.
The funny thing is that this idea started as a joke years ago while I was wandering through that tiny cabin community in the Rockies. But the older I get, the less ridiculous it sounds.
I think many of us reach a stage in life where we stop craving more excitement and start craving more peace. We want enough space to hear ourselves think and neighbors who understand that waving from a distance is a complete social interaction.
We could choose to gather or retreat, but either way, it doesn’t feel like we’re missing out on anything because duh…look at these spaces. Is anyone truly missing out here?
We want meaningful work, quiet mornings, loyal dogs, and enough firewood to get through winter.
And maybe, just maybe, we want a community full of other women who understand that solitude isn’t loneliness, it’s actually a luxury!
If any billionaires would like to fund MenoPodz rather than a space shuttle, please contact me immediately. 😁 In the meantime, applications for founding residents are now open.
Dogs are mandatory.
All jokes aside, would you ever move outside the city to live in a small pod community like this? Does this sound like heaven to you, or complete hell? 😆
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.